Sleep through the Chaos
by norik956
Summary: Ahsoka Tano is in a bad position. Framed for the murder of Letta Turmond and the Temple bombing, she's imprisoned after Tarkin's accusations. Stuck in that cell waiting for Anakin and very tired, would it be that bad if she caught up on some of the sleep that she didn't get with all the recent battles and missions? A one shot poking a bit of fun at the season 5 finale.


**Sleep through the Chaos**

 **;-**

Ahsoka Tano sighed deeply as she sat on the metal bed in the prison cell. Things were looking really bad right now. First the Jedi Temple gets bombed, after which she and Anakin are rushed back to Coruscant to investigate, seeing as they weren't on the planet and therefore shouldn't be involved, but then someone kills Letta Turmond in her presence and she gets blamed for the whole thing.

She frowned and couldn't help the guilt creeping through her. She wasn't the one that murdered Letta, of course not, she would never do such a thing, but she had been helpless to do anything about it. She could feel it, the Dark Side flooding the cell suddenly and choking the life out of the poor woman, but she hadn't been able to sense where the murderer had been and she had failed to stop them. Now Letta was dead and she was being seen as the mastermind behind everything, at least, that is what Tarkin made of it.

Tarkin, that sleemo really got under her skin. He couldn't even be bothered to hear her explanation about what happened. He just feels that she's the one responsible and seemed very determined to have her take the fall for it all. None of it felt right to her. He didn't seem to want justice for what happened, he just seemed to want her dead.

She didn't believe his story for a second. The recording from Letta's cell just so happens to be broken at the exact moment she was talking to her? " _Yeah right"_ Everything of it lost, except for the part where she supposedly murdered the poor woman? " _Of course it is."_ She had never really trusted him. Tarkin had been an arrogant slime from the moment she met him and he had never changed, even after she had saved his life.

If that recording hadn't been 'broken', they could easily see that she was trying to help Letta. She was terribly frightened of the mastermind behind the bombing. Ahsoka had just convinced her to reveal this person, promising that the Council would protect Letta if she helped them. Just as she was about to say the name of this person, she was murdered. Seeing as she was killed by the Force, whoever it was could have probably killed her at any moment, but they had deliberately waited for when she was in the cell, all to frame her for the murder and the bombing.

She sighed again and leaned back against the wall. She couldn't really blame the clones for their action, of course not, they were just doing their job. But the way Tarkin had been acting, accusing her so swiftly with that 'broken' recording, it made her angry. She knew about the rights a prisoner was supposed to have, but she had been denied those things by that slimy admiral. She couldn't even contact Anakin or the Council to ask them for help. Tarkin's arrogance really got on her nerves.

" _Relax, take a deep breath and release it to the Force,"_ she thought as she closed her eyes. _"Don't let him get to you like that. He just wants to get you angry, get you to do something stupid. Don't give in to it. Don't give him that satisfaction."_

She relaxed and stood up, stretching her legs a little. Well, as much as she could in this cell anyway. Anakin would have realized by now that something was wrong, he couldn't have missed it. Sure, he could be a bit slow at times, but he would have sensed this already. Seeing as he hadn't come to see her yet, she figured that Tarkin had done something else as well. _"Probably not letting him enter here on the grounds of some stupid rule or regulation or something,"_ she mused. " _No matter, I know Anakin won't just sit quietly about this. He's probably yelling to the Council now or pulling Obi-Wan into something stupid to help me. Perhaps he went to see Padmé about this, she knows a lot about this kind of stuff."_

She took a deep breath and sat down again. She would just have to wait it out. She was certain that Anakin, master Kenobi or master Plo would soon come to help her. There isn't really anything that she can do from inside this cell, so she would just have to wait. They would come through for her, she knew it.

She couldn't keep the yawn from escaping her. She was tired, very tired. It had been a very busy couple of weeks. Anakin and her had gone from intense battle to intense battle. Rest had been one luxury that they didn't have, especially not since the droids had ambushed them in the middle of the night on three separate days. They were supposed to have gotten a break after their last mission, but then the Temple had been bombed and they had been rushed back to Coruscant to investigate. The horror of that event, coupled with the sudden loss of so many Jedi, several of them she had known and practiced with, hadn't really helped with her lack of sleep.

She laid down on the steel bed. Would it really be that bad for her to catch up on some rest while she was stuck in here? There wasn't anything she could do, save maybe listen to more of Tarkin's rambling if he showed up again. That she really wasn't looking forward to.

Her body seemingly made the choice for her as it turned out to be very difficult to get back up again and her eyes were starting to get heavy. She sighed and got as comfortable as she could. Anakin, Master Plo and the others would come for her, she was sure of it. So for now, she just closed her eyes and drifted off to some very welcome sleep.

;-

Alarms blared throughout the prison and the surrounding area. The reason? Ahsoka Tano, the Jedi being blamed for the bombing of the Jedi Temple, had escaped her cell and murdered several clones on her way out of the facility. Admiral Tarkin's order had been clear: she is to be considered armed and dangerous, and to be shot on sight.

Those orders had not gotten over well with a lot of clones, especially with those from General Skywalker's 501st regiment, Commander Wolffe reasoned as he sped through the prison with a group of five soldiers from his wolf pack.

Captain Rex had already sounded counter orders, telling everyone not to hurt her but to use stun blasts only if they really had no other choice. He wasn't just going to accept this, their commander killing innocent civilians, clones and her fellow Jedi?

Wolffe had to admit, it didn't fit with her either. His General, Jedi Master Plo Koon, had always spoken so highly of the young Togruta and he too had to admit that his General was often right about her. So now, more at the request of Plo Koon and not Tarkin's orders, he and his men were searching the prison for Ahsoka Tano, as well as any clues as to what was going on. They walked by the cell were Ahsoka Tano had been held before and he froze in his step, as did his men.

"Uhm… Commander? She's right there…" One of his men commented.

"Yeah, I can see that," Wolffe replied slowly. The Togruta was still in her cell, sleeping soundly on the bed. Obviously very deep in sleep, seeing as she apparently hadn't noticed the alarms blaring. Her upper lip was drawn back a bit, revealing a sharp canine tooth. There was a slight bit of drool too, all of it signaling that she was in a deep sleep and had apparently never left her cell in the first place. Then what was the cause of this alarm? What was going on?

For a short moment, the group of clones was silent. The only noise around them, not counting the alarm, was the soft buzzing of the ray shield-door of the cell and the soft snoring of the young Togruta sleeping within.

Wolffe glanced over to his men before he raised his hand and activated the comm-link on his wrist. "General Koon, please come in," he said as he contacted his general on a private line. He had no idea anymore about this whole situation and what they were supposed to do now. Something was going on and it just didn't sit well with him.

"I hear you, Commander Wolffe. What do you have to report?" The Kel Dorian Jedi's deep voice sounded over the comm-link.

"General, we just found Commander Tano," he replied, looking over to the sleeping Togruta.

"You have? That's good, where is she and what is her condition?" Plo Koon asked.

"Ehm, she's still in her cell, General," Wolffe replied.

The comm was silent a moment. "She's still in her cell?" Plo Koon asked, a mix of disbelief and surprise present in his voice.

"Yes general," Wolffe answered. "She's fast asleep and from the looks of it, she never left the cell at all. I do not know why Admiral Tarkin reported that she has escaped and killed our brothers on her way out. I'm not sure what to make of this situation."

"Hmm, this is a strange situation indeed," Plo Koon replied. "Is there anything suspicious to be seen around her cell?"

Wolffe signaled his men to check the area at the general's question. One of his men then spoke up.

"Commander, look! Someone left a keycard outside her cell," the trooper said as he pointed at the slightly hidden keycard.

Wolffe turned around and walked up to it. From where it was, he was certain that Commander Tano could have picked it up with the Force and set herself free from the cell. He had often seen Jedi lift much heavier objects with the Force after all. If she hadn't been asleep, that could have explained how she had gotten out of her cell, but she hadn't. This again raised the question of what was going on, as well as: who left this keycard here?

"General, if I may speak freely, this situation doesn't feel right at all to me," Wolffe said. "Someone has left a keycard outside of Commander Tano's cell. They obviously meant for her to escape from it. However, seeing as s he's still in her cell and several clones have been killed during her supposed escape… Something just isn't right here, General."

"I completely agree with you Wolffe," Plo Koon replied. "This whole situation didn't sit right with me from the start. Ahsoka would have never done such terrible things." The comm was silent again for a bit as Wolffe and his men waited for the general's next orders. "Commander Wolffe, please send three of your men to the prison's security center. I want them to copy all of the security recordings onto separate data crystals and have them transmit a copy to me as well. I do not know what is going on, but I intent to get to the bottom of this."

"Yes, General, right away," Wolffe said as he pointed to three of his men. "You three, get to it." The three troopers sounded their confirmation and took off to the security center. "What else should we do general?"

"Please remain where you are, Wolffe. Keep watch by her cell. I will join you shortly," Plo Koon replied.

"Will do general," Wolffe said as the communication ended. He and his two remaining men took up their positions in the hallway and waited for the Jedi Master to join them.

;-

Anakin Skywalker rushed through the halls of the prison. He was on his way to meet up with Plo Koon, who, if Anakin had gotten the message right, knew more about Ahsoka's whereabouts and condition.

He couldn't believe how quickly things had turned from bad to worse to horrible. First the Jedi Temple, their home, gets bombed. They finally arrest one of the people responsible, but then Ahsoka gets accused of murdering her? " _Ridiculous!"_ he thought annoyed. Yes, this woman did deserve to be punished for her crimes. Yes, if he was really angry, if someone close to him had been killed in that bombing than he might have killed her himself instead of arresting her. Yes, him and Ahsoka were quite alike, but she was a lot more forgiving and merciful than he was. She would never do such a thing to anyone!

He had gone to look her up in the cell, to get her side of the story and to see if he could do anything else to help her through this mess. That had been the plan, but the clones had not let him through under Tarkin's orders. He didn't understand and the mere idea of it made him angry. She was _his_ Padawan and _no one_ had the right to keep him from protecting her. He had, very begrudgingly, left the prison. If he caused a scene, he just knew that it wouldn't help Ahsoka. His gut told him that Tarkin would find some way to hurt her with it, so he had left. Left, to form a plan of sorts that would keep Tarkin from interfering with him again.

Then, all of a sudden, in the night, everything had turned horrible. The official word was that Ahsoka had escaped from her cell and had murdered innocent clones. In response, Tarkin had given out orders to shoot to kill on sight. Had he ever been that angry before? Probably the only moment that surpassed this was the death of his mother. He had been tempted to do to Tarkin what he had done to the Tuskens, but that would not help Ahsoka much either, so he kept that particular idea for later.

After a talk with Obi-Wan, which was more him shouting at the older Jedi about them needing to go _now_ to protect Ahsoka, he had stormed off towards the prison. He had been constantly contacting his troopers in the area for more information about what was going on, but they couldn't give him much, save that apparently troopers had been killed by a lightsaber and the explanation and orders that admiral Tarkin had given out, but they paid more attention to the counter-orders of captain Rex to look for her and only use stunbolts if they really had to. That had made him feel slightly better.

When he was close to the prison and about to join in the search, Plo Koon had contacted him and told him to meet him to discuss what he had learned about this whole situation. A few members of the Council and other Jedi had just accepted Tarkin's accusations of Ahsoka without giving it a second thought. That had really angered him as well. Ahsoka had been part of the Order for so long and they all knew how dedicated she was to it, but they had instantly forgotten all of that the moment Tarkin accused her and showed that incomplete, broken recording that shouldn't even count as evidence. He had no idea how Plo Koon thought about this, but he hoped that, being the Jedi that had brought Ahsoka to the Temple as an infant, the Kel Dorian knew there was no way that she would do that.

He entered a different hall of cells and saw the Kel Dorian Jedi waiting there for him. He quickly walked up to him. "Master Koon, what's going on? Do you know how Ahsoka is doing?" he immediately asked. "Tarkin's orders are insane. There is no way that it's true. We need to find Ahsoka before she gets hurt!"

"Settle down, Skywalker," Plo Koon replied in his deep voice. "I agree with you that this situation is very strange. Just look over there." He gestured at the cell he was standing next to.

Anakin was a bit confused by his answer, but walked up to the cell nevertheless. He looked in and saw Ahsoka lying there, asleep on the bed. She was slightly snoring, like she sometimes did when she was in a very deep sleep and from the looks of her, she had not been out of her cell at all. Even more confused now, he turned back to Plo Koon.

"It appears that there has been some form of 'miscommunication'," Plo Koon told him. "You and I can clearly tell that Ahsoka has not left this cell at all. Therefore, there is no way that she could have killed those clones." He paused a moment to look at Ahsoka before he turned back to Anakin. "My troops found the unconscious guards in the entrance hall. Her lightsabers had been placed on the ground there along with a comlink. Also, someone left behind a keycard right here outside her cell. I do not believe Ahsoka to be capable of such coldblooded murder, so something else is going on."

"So she's being framed?" Anakin immediately offered. "And whoever is behind it, Tarkin seems to be nicely cooperating with them."

"There is certainly far more to this situation than meets the eye," Plo Koon replied. "I do not know the full extent of what is going on, but I do intend to find out. I sent my troops to the security station to secure the footage of what transpired here. I suggest we head there to learn the truth about this whole situation. Commander Wolffe, please remain here and continue to watch over Ahsoka. Do not allow anyone access to her cell without my permission."

"Will do General, we'll keep an eye on things," Wolffe said with a brief nod. He and his two troopers took up their positions again.

"Very good, thank you commander," Plo Koon replied. "Let's go Skywalker."

Anakin watched as the Kel Dorian Jedi began to walk to the door at the end of the hall. Just leaving Ahsoka here was not something that he wanted to do, but there weren't many other options. If he really wanted to help Ahsoka get out of this mess as quickly as possible, they would definitely need the recordings. With a brief sigh and a lingering look at Ahsoka, he followed after the older Jedi.

;-

Ahsoka woke slowly from her deep sleep. Her back ached a little from sleeping on the steel bed and her limbs felt a little stiff. Nevertheless, she couldn't deny that the sleep had been really good for her. She had really needed the break. She sat upright and rubbed her eyes a little.

She stretched her arms a bit and looked towards the ray shield-door of the cell. It appeared that there were now two clones standing guard by the door. She couldn't tell who they were, so she didn't try to make conversation with them. If they were Tarkin's men, he might have ordered them to get her to say something that he could use to twist her words. She already suspected that he had done something to that recording, so she wasn't going to give him anything else. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

She was considering whether or not she should meditate for a little while when she suddenly sensed two very familiar Force presences approach her. A door opened and she instantly recognized Anakin's voice. He sounded upset and angry, but she just wasn't able to make out just what he said.

"General Koon, General Skywalker," one of the clone troopers said a short moment later.

"At ease troopers, you may return to your barracks. We'll take it from here," the familiar and welcome voice of Plo Koon answered.

"Yes General," the two clones replied. They gave a quick salute and left. A moment later, Anakin and Plo Koon appeared in front of the ray shield.

"Anakin! Master Plo!" Ahsoka immediately said as she got up and walked up to the ray shield. "I'm so glad to see you." Her happy smiled faded. "You know that I didn't to this, right? I would never kill anyone like that and I definitely would _never_ to anything to the Temple. It's my home! I didn't kill Letta, but…" she paused and hung her head in slight shame and guilt. "I didn't kill Letta, but I couldn't do anything to help her either. I could sense the Dark Side around us, but I wasn't able to tell who it was or where they were or do anything to step them."

"Ahsoka, don't worry, we know that you had nothing to do with any of this," Anakin replied reassuringly. "You were being framed and set up, but we've cleared everything up. There's no need for you to stay stuck in here anymore." With that, he deactivated the ray shield so she could get out.

With a smile of relief, Ahsoka stepped out of the cell. Anakin immediately pulled her into a hug. "Are you feeling alright Snips?" he asked with concern.

Ahsoka pulled back and nodded slowly. "I'll be alright Master, don't worry. I'll be a lot better once I get out of here," she replied. "At least nothing else bad happened." The moment she said that, she could tell quite a change in both Anakin's and Plo Koon's mood. She gave them both a questioning look.

"Several clones were killed last night Snips," Anakin informed her. "There was quite a bit of chaos."

That news shocked her. "Clones were killed? First the bombing and now that? What happened? Do you know?" she quickly asked.

Plo Koon gave a soft sigh. "According to the reports from the prison and Admiral Tarkin, you escaped from your cell and murdered multiple clones on your way out of the prison," he told her.

Ahsoka blinked at him, expression turning to one of shock and confusion. " _What_?" she asked softly in disbelief. "I didn't… How… I was in my cell… I couldn't have… I would never…"

"You didn't notice any of the chaos and alarms from last night?" Anakin asked her.

Ahsoka looked at him. "N-no, I was asleep. There wasn't anything I could do in that cell, so I just decided to wait for you," she replied.

Anakin gave a slight chuckle and shook his head. "So I was right after all huh? You really weren't getting enough sleep with all of the battles and all," he said with a slight teasing tone in his voice. Noticing Ahsoka's unamused expression, he continued. "According to Tarkin, you had escaped and were out killing clones. He had given out shoot to kill orders against you."

Ahsoka's expression turned to one of shock at hearing that.

"Rex was in the area as well, so he was calling out to the order clones not to hurt you and only use stun bolts if they really had to," Anakin continued his explanation. "Master Plo's men were searching through the prison, trying to find more clues as to what was going on, when Wolffe and his men found you still asleep in your cell. They also found a keycard that had been left right by your cell door. Your lightsabers had been placed on the ground in the entrance hall by someone as well." He noticed Ahsoka's eyes widen in shock. "Yeah, that's right Snips. Whoever it was that killed Letta and framed you tried to get you into even more trouble. They might have assumed that you would have thought that I had left that keycard for you to get away from Tarkin. To be honest, it's something that I might have done. At the same time, they killed those clones to make it seem like you really were a coldblooded murderer."

Ahsoka was silent for a moment as she processed everything. The evil of this really shocked her. "So whoever it was that killed Letta, now murdered clones in an attempt to silence me?" she asked them. "And Tarkin sure helped them out. He was already very eager to accuse me from the start and he certainly didn't seem to think twice about ordering the clones to kill me." Slight anger trickled in her voice, she just couldn't help it at the moment. "Where is that slime now?"

Plo Koon gestured towards a cell a bit away from the one she had been in and started walking towards it. Ahsoka followed him, with Anakin right behind her. She looked into the cell and saw Tarkin inside of it, lying unconscious on the bed.

"I asked Wolffe and his men to keep watch on you while your master and I went to the security center to figure out what was going on," Plo Koon told her. "Skywalker _bypassed_ several of the security programs in the prison's database. After that, we quickly found the original file of your conversation with Letta Turmond. We also discovered orders from Tarkin to a few Republic slicers to alter the recordings, along with mentions of substantial payments for their silence," Plo Koon explained. "This indeed proved that he was out to have you executed for what happened, instead of trying to find out the truth. We saw him arrested quite quickly after that. The troopers of the 501st were eager to assist us with that."

That news disturbed her more than it actually shocked or surprised her. She had already suspected that Tarkin wasn't exactly being honest when he had said that the recorders in the cell had been broken. She figured that he had had pulled something like this. But what really disturbed her was the fact that he had gotten away with it so easily. Did no one else in the Republic military or prison staff really bother to investigate what had happened?

"So what will happen to him now?" she asked as she watched the unconscious former (she assumed) Admiral in his cell.

"Oh, he will be trialed for treason Snips," Anakin eagerly replied. "Someone was trying to frame you for the bombing and he participated very willingly in that. For someone in his position trying that, let alone on a Jedi, he's in for some serious punishment."

"Can't say that I really feel sorry for him," Ahsoka admitted. Considering how eager he was to accuse her and to see to her being convicted, she just couldn't bring herself to care about his predicament.

"Me neither Snips," Anakin replied as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "He'll get exactly what he deserves. What he did is inexcusable."

Ahsoka nodded. She more than agreed with her master on that, but she was still concerned about something else. "Masters? What is going to happen to the investigation now?" she asked them. "Are we going to continue with it or will someone else do so?" She winced a bit. "Please don't tell me that some incompetent oaf like Tan Divo is taking over. I still remember Riyo telling me how useless he was in finding Chairman Papanoida's daughters."

From Anakin's groan next to her, she could tell that he felt exactly the same way about that inspector.

"Yeah…. Padmé told me about that idiot as well," Anakin replied as he shook his head. "No, don't worry Snips, Obi-Wan will join Master Plo and myself to continue the investigation. We'll make sure to get to the bottom of this."

Ahsoka looked at him and gave him a slightly disappointed and pouty look. He had seen that look plenty of times before.

"You deserve a break after everything that's happened Snips. Times have been crazy enough without this bombing and you being framed. You just go and take a nice break at the Temple, do some studying and see some friends," he told her. Witnessing her frown growing a bit larger, he quickly added: "Don't worry Snips, we'll contact you if we need your help." He hoped she would take the compromise.

Ahsoka sighed. "All right then Skyguy," she replied. "I'll just wait for you inevitable cry for help. Force knows you always need me," she added in a very teasing tone. Anakin looked at her in mild shock while Plo Koon chuckled a bit.

The Kel Dorian gestured towards the exit. "Come on, lil' Ahsoka. I think it's high time we get you out of here," he told her as he started walking towards the exit.

"Right behind you Master Plo," Ahsoka replied as she followed after him.

Anakin looked after the two for a moment. "Ha, I'm glad that you haven't lost your sense of humor in here Snips." He shook his head and followed after them, eager to take his padawan away from here and to her home.

 **;-**

 **That's the end of this story.**

 **This was a fun little one shot story to poke some fun at the season 5 finale. A few of my random thoughts brought me to this. Barriss' plan to further frame Ahsoka to get her executed could have easily failed if she had missed what happened. So, I got to the simple idea of:**

 **W** _ **hat if Ahsoka was very tired from all of the recent battles she and Anakin had been in, so she decided to catch up on her rest while she waits for Anakin to help her**_ **.**

 **I think that this became a pretty nice story. Let me know what you think of it. If I come up with other ideas like this, I might write them out as well.**

 **Now, I'm returning to my other stories. The next chapter for The Hunt is nearing completion. It hopefully won't take me that much longer to finish.**

 **Until next time.**


End file.
